Heard this crazy story of American "justice" on the Criminal podcast.
A man is arrested for a crime cos the police used AI facial recognition. The man has a solid alibi: he was in hospital cos his child was being born.
6 months later, he pleads guilty. Why? He's been locked up all this time, awaiting trial. The only way he gets to go home to his new baby is to admit to a crime he didn't commit.
This is that craziness @mekkaokereke keeps telling us about.
thisiscriminal.com/episode-371…
Episode 371: That’s Not Me (7.10.2026)
Porcha Woodruff was eight months pregnant when she was arrested by police one morning at her home in Detroit. When she spoke with a detective at the police station hours later, she asked them, “Why am I here?”thisiscriminal (Criminal)
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Ronnie
in reply to David Njoku • • •David Njoku
in reply to Ronnie • • •David Njoku
in reply to David Njoku • • •To be completely fair to America, I have no idea if the same sort of thing¹ would happen in the UK. I know it happens in Nigeria.
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¹ spending months locked up while awaiting trial
The Sleight Doctor 🃏🍉
in reply to David Njoku • • •Reform UK have explicitly said they'll detain folks while they assess their legal status, just like ICE in the USA. That's literally a party pledge.
So we're also creeping towards fascism.
Crowsinger
in reply to David Njoku • • •Helidonkey
in reply to David Njoku • • •Ben. No, not that one.
in reply to David Njoku • • •Bail: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)
LastWeekTonight (YouTube)max oakland
in reply to David Njoku • • •wy knott
in reply to David Njoku • • •mekka okereke reshared this.
Bruce Heerssen
in reply to wy knott • • •@wyatt_h_knott
Yeah, it was a bad decision for a whole host of reasons. But can you really blame him? He's suffering every day in jail, and he can't see his newborn or support his family while he's in there.
And you know prosecutors and perhaps even his court appointed defense attorney are telling him sweet sounding lies about how a guilty plea is the best way out.
wy knott
in reply to Bruce Heerssen • • •@bruce It only makes sense if you can't prove your innocence. When I took a plea, it was because they had charged me with a bunch of stuff I hadn't done, but weren't going to let me go. So I had to plead to the thing I had actually done, which was a misdemeanor, much better than the felonies they tried to charge me with.
It's obviously case by case, but I still think it was a bad decision forced upon him.
Annelies
in reply to wy knott • • •@davidnjoku @mekkaokereke
wy knott
in reply to Annelies • • •@akamran Yeah, except you're talking to someone who has actually been arrested, charged with crimes they didn't commit, had to take a plea deal, and did time.
You're also talking to a guy who got 60% of his assets back in a forfeiture case with falsified charges, because I refused to plead and fought the case.
I'm well aware of how it goes.
Jonathan Lamothe
in reply to David Njoku • •@David Njoku @mekka okereke I don't know if this is a sunk cost fallacy thing on the part of the police,* or something more sinister. Honestly, either answer seems plausible.
* I imagine this facial recognition garbage didn't come cheap.
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mekka okereke, J. R. DePriest :EA DATA. SF:, Sofia from nowhere, Mr. Scam Likely and salix sericea (@Ripple13216) like this.
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Jenny
in reply to David Njoku • • •decapitae
in reply to David Njoku • • •